Vest Financial LLC Has $34.12 Million Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 41.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 209,771 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,122 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $34,115,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,808,047 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,841,178,000 after purchasing an additional 672,548 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,826,373 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,994,968,000 after buying an additional 371,866 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 5.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,413,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,316,269,000 after acquiring an additional 858,122 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 3.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,861,933 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,790,554,000 after acquiring an additional 318,445 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,327,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMAT. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.71.

Applied Materials Stock Down 1.5 %

AMAT opened at $180.00 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $175.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $158.96 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The stock has a market cap of $146.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. Applied Materials’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.58%.

Applied Materials Profile

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display and Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells various manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits.